Gaitts c



G. C. FULLER.

GASLTGHTEB.

APPLICATION Flu-:D Dec. 19. 1919.

1,386,563.l v Patented Aug. 2,1921.

Zm/enor zo K Azorney.

UNITED STATES PATErVr OFFICE.

GAIUS C. FULLER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE G. C. FULLER MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

GASLIGHTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

Application led December 19, 1919. Serial No. 346,117.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, GAiUs C. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at (lincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gaslighters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in lighters of thel kind in which sparks are produced by abrasion or friction.

The object of my invention is to provide for the ready renewal of the spark-producing material Without providing each renewal with avseparate holder; and to readily adjust or feed the material to the abradant, so as to utilize practically all of the material, to increase the efficiency of the spark, and to minimize the wear upon and the clogging of the abradant, so as to in general provide a more eliicient and economical means for ignition of combustible gases. Other objects will appear in the course of the ensuing description.

I attain these objects by the device illustrated, for example, in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a gaslighter embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial similar view slight modification;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the holder with its screw and the spark material therein in elevation, and with a cross-section of the abradant element in its relation to the spark element;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. l,l but from the opposite side, and showing the gaslighter open;

Fig. 5 is a section like Fig. 3, but showing the positions of the parts when the spark material is nearly all consumed;

Fig. 6 is a detail view, corresponding to Figs. 3 and 5, of the holder with its screw and the spark material omitted, to more clearly show the interior arrangement of the holder;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3, but showing a modification;

Fig. 8 is a partial perspective view, corresponding to iigs. l, 2 and 4, but showing the modification of Fig. 7

Fig. 9 is a detail of the blank from which the holder of Figs. 7 and 8 is formed;

Fig. l0 is a section similar to Fig. 3, but showing another modifica-tion; and

showing a F ig, ll is a cross-section on a plane corresponding to the line ll-ll of Fig. l0.

As I prefer to construct my invention, there is a handle comprising the members l and 2 branching forwardly from the junction spring 3. he member 1 has the wide U-shaped abradant. holder 4 on its free end. and has the down-turned loop 5 some dis? tance back from the holder 4. The member 2 has the up-turned loop 6 some distance, back from its free end, on which end is mounted the spark-producing material, as will presently be described. This handle is formed of a; single piece of wire coiled and bent to form the several parts just mentioned; and the member 2 is acted upon by the junction spring 3 so that it not only presses laterally outward against the terminal stud 4 of the ab-radant holder 4 at the left, but also tends or presses toward the holder 4 to press the spark-producing material against the abradant. The opposite loops 5 and 6 afford thumb or finger engaging means, so that the manual pressure is directed toward the abradant and increases the pressure of the spark-producing material against the abradant as the handle members are manually pressed toward each other to drag the spark-producing material across the abradant, whether the lighter be held with the abradant faced upward, as shown, or faced downward, as it usually is in practice. This provision of the loops at both sides is of especial advantage when the member 2 is raised considerably from the abradant by the extension of a new supply of spark-producing material from its holder, as is peculiar to my improved holding means now to be described.

The holder for this material has heretofore been permanently secured to the material and removable from the handle part and discarded therewith, or it has involved some other complication by which the hereinbefore mentioned objects of the present invention are not attained.

My improved holder` 7 is permanently attached to the end of the member 2, by means of its horizontal neck 8 receiving the end tightly therein. lts forward vertical barrel 9 has an opening vertically through it, which is threaded throughout a minor upper portion l0 (Fig. 6) and smooth throughout a major lower portion 11, the diameter of this lower portion 1l being sufficient to admit lfreely the screw 12 that isscrewed down through the threaded upper portion 1t). This screw may have theknurled .head ofV Figs. 1, 3, e and 5, or the slotted head as on the screw 12 of Fig. 2;` or it will be understood that any other variation of this part of the screw willnot be a departure troni my present invention.

The screw 12 and the portions '10 and 11 of the opening are so proportioned that the screwV 12 will turn rather A'freely ini the portion 10 and so that the lower portion 11 may have the cylindrical piece 13 of sparkproducing material fitted snugly but Vslidably therein, with its upper end bearing against the lower end of the screw 12 and with its lower part projecting down out of the bottom of the barrel 9 of theV holder 7,

and its lower, end bearing upon the rabrasive element 14, which is a small flat iile notched at its ends to lit around the holder stud 4; and the bent-down part 4'@ which has a slight projection l over this end of the igle1ll to hold this end down. rlhe other ,endis' held down bythe constant pressure of the handle spring-member 2, pressing` the spark-producing material 13 onto the file. The file 1e may be toothed on both sides, and turned over to present a new abrading surface. These details of the tile and the means of holding it are themselves not original vherein. rllhe novelty is in the just-de Vscribed relation ot the spark-producing material to this file and in the handle .member 2 that presses it against the ile. Y

Generally, this material in the piece 13 is a pyrophoric alloy, as is commonly employed in gas lighters. V.This is the material which l piel-erto` employ; and it is very expensive. The value or' this small piece oit alloy is about as much as that oi all of 'the other par-ts of the device combined.

vBy virtue of my improvement, combining the constant spring-pressure of the member 2 with the positive adjustment oit the ma-l vteria-1 13 in itsprojection down from the holder 7 o n the end of this arm orrmeniber 2, the material can, by an occasional manual adjustment ot the screw 12 or 12', be utilized in its entirety, until the iull length o't Fig 3 has been worn down to a thinness suiiicient only for producing the last spark, as illustinted, in somewhat exaggeratedtorm, in Fig. 5. And, except after the piece has be-` come worn very short, the material can be kept projectedV an ample distance past the bottom of the holder 7, so that there is Sullicient space all around and. above the zone of abrasion to permit tree escape ot' the incandescent particles and gases, or sparks, into the gas to which the lighter is applied. Also, since the bottom of the holder 7 never is permitted to contact with the file surface, except possibly in the verylast stages ot use of the piece of material, asin Fig. 5, there is practically no wearing awayof the holder material to clog the teeth ot theile, and no wear on the le other .than that incident to the abrasion orP thematerial 13, as intended. The pyrophoric alloy is'not so hard asto unduly wear the file; yet is not so soft as to appreciably clog the file teeth. This is an economy in the supply of the files, as well as in the supply of the sparking-material and in the eiiciency oi' use oit both.

`Where the sparking material is permanently secured in a holder, the latter is detachable from the member V2,- and is dis.-`

carded when the sparking'material Vtherein has been worn off until none of it projects from lthe bottomct the holder. YThis is usually about hali of Vthe length of Ythe. piece of. material, so that there is vabout titty per centLwaste ot this valuable material; and there is one hundred percent. Vwaste of the holder thus discarded; Moreover, the user will neglect ienewalafter the material is thus worn down, and continue to drag the bottom of the holder across the le, thus obtaining' a verypoor spark, because the spark is smothered by the Vclose contact of .the holder bottom. As thesev holders are usually of some very sott metal, such as lead,a few.

such operations as this are suiiicient to reni der the file racticallV useless even with rel 3 newed holder and sparking` material, because its teeth are clogged with` vthe sott metal thus worn from the holder, which -should haveV been discarded; Then vthe user, to "further utilize the lighter, must not only renew sparking material and holder, butalso thele. p. 1 'e j lilith my improvement, the manual, positiveadjustment of the'spa'rkling material .is so convenient-involving a mere sli ght turnot the screw 12 or 12 occasionally-that there is little tendencyror neglect to renew; so that the detriment' el the other lighters, as just alluded to, is practically'eliminated.

And knowing the convenience of this ad justment, the user will not Vneglect to use il.A

in fully projecting the sparking material. until it is all worn away and utilized. as betere mentioned. -The saving thus attained, amounting to the full value-'of the entire dc-V vice ina .compara-tivelyl short time, is relatiif'ely very -i mportant;, l

ln practice, l preter to?. mold the holder 7 oia sott, readily fusible metal, such as lead or some alloy there'owith the end ot the member 2 lying in the neck Ypart of the mold, and onerot the screws 12 or 12, or similarly threaded core, lying, in alinement with a .smoothV e'orefor vt-liesmooth part 11, in the' barrel part of the mold.V The neck part is left attachedtojthemember 2, Vas

izo

results from this process; and the smooth iso of the holder.

casting, merely withdrawing the smooth core, leaving the space in which the sparking material is placed. Tr a piece of this material is used as the smooth core, it may be left in place. Thus it will be seen that the device can be taken from its mold'in more or less complete condition, not only of formation, but of assembly, permitting of economy in manufacture. But it will be understood also, that vthese parts may be differently formed or made of different materials, or may be differently assembled. Some such casting process, with the use of readily fusible metal, however, is preferred.

In the moditication of Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the holder is formed from a single sheet of metal, somewhat like that shown in Fig. 9, with a middle rectangular part 9 to form the barrel, and smaller rectangular wings 8 and 8 to form the neck when the part 9 has been bent around and these wings have been bent around and ysuitably connected at their upper and lower edges, as by the flanges 15 on the part 8 and the flanges 16 on the part 8, bent over the ilanges 15. The part 9 preferably has the screw-threads 10 pressed in it prior to forming, as shown in Fig. 9.

However the sheet-metal holder may be constructed, it is especially adaptable to having a resilient piece to press inward on the piece of sparking material 13, as the tongue 1'? formed by severing the middle portion of the part 9 close to the lower edge of this part and in parallel lines up considerable distance, leaving this tongue integral with the holder at its upper end, Vand slightly forming it to have a curved contact with the piece 13 very close tol the-bottom This formation leaves the very narrow band 18 at the bottom of the front of the holder, preventing spreading of the sides of the lower part of the holder barrel 9, but permitting the lower end of the tongue to be bent slightly outward, for permitting ready passage of the piece 13 up into the holder, in renewing, while at the same time permitting the curved contact 19 to be far enough down to hold the piece 13 until most of it has been used, This resilient holding pressure is generally not essential, however` because the piece 13 may lit the holder socket-portion 11 in Figsjl to 6, inclusive, snugly enough to not readily slide down out of the socket upon occasional, generally accidental, raising of the holder away from the tile, against the pressure of the spring-controlled member 2. Except on such occasions, this pressure will prevent release oi the piece 13 Jfrom the holder, without the use of any resilientl holding means such as the tongue 17.

The cast, or otherwise solidily formed holder may be provided with resilient hold-Y ing means, if desirable. An example of this 'collar can be formed so that it is shown in Figs. 1G and 11, where the cast holder 7 has all oi its parts like those of the holder 7 of TEigs. 1 to 6, inclusive, except that there is a spring collar 29 imbedded in the casting in the lower part of the barrel where would be the smooth portion 11 of the preceding example. This collar Q9 is Yjormed from a strip et sheet metal bent around but having its ends 21 not quite meeting, so that a narrow space 22 is lett between them. This loes not exactly conform to the interior or the barrel, and so that its free ends bend out as the material 13 is inserted, and thus grip the material with a yiel'dable pressure due to the resiliency of the collar material. This con struction is readily accomplished by placing the collar 2O around the core or" the mold, leaving a slight feather on the core to ll the space 22 between the collar ends 21, so that the metal is excluded therefrom in the casting. The imperfect attachment oithe collar to thecasting interior permits the slight play of the parts as just mentioned, yet is suiiicient to retain the collar in the holder. In this construction, the collar, oi brass or the like, retaining its resiliency under the heat of casting, also acts as a wear-resisting bushing in the holder, where the renewals are inserted, thus adding to the durability ol' the device.

The simple holder of soit cast metal, as in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, will, however, hold the material 13 satisfactorily, and will be durable enough for all practical purposes, under most conditions, and is preferred. Also, other modiiications may occur, under different conditions, besides those herein shown, and therefore, while certain constructional detailsare deemed preferable in connection with my invention, and I have shown and described these rather specifically in elucidating the construction and use of my invention, as is required, l do not wish to be understood as being limited to such precise showing and description, but having thus fully described my invention,

l/Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a gas-lighter, a holder for sparkproducing material having an opening through it from end to end, a screw threaded in one end part oi said opening for bearing directly against spark-producing material in the other end part of said holder, a support tor said holder, attached to said holder substantially at right angles to said opening, an abradant entirely outside of said holder, and a support for said abradant, yieldably connected to said holder supv port, whereby the spark-producing material is continuously held against said abradant substantially at right angles to said abradant, to be draggedy along said abradant, whereby said screw is adapted to adjust said spark producing material against Vsaid abradant and said abradant tends to hold said material in said holder against said screw.

2. n a gas-lighter, a holder for'sparlrproducing material comprising a barrel and a neck projecting from said barrel at a` substantial angle thereto, having an opening in said neck receiving a supporting element, and having an opening in one end of said Vbarreh'and a resilient collar held in said barrel opening for retentively Contacting with spark-producing material held in said opening.

3. In a gas-lighter, a supporting part, and a holder of soft, readily fusible material moldedY on `Said supporting part, andV having an o Jenin@ throuoh it from end to endsub- C '1 Y stantially at right angles to 'Said supporting part, `with threads molded in one end Vpart of said opening by means or a threaded Core 'in the rnold.

stantially at right angles to saidV Supporting1 part,V with Ya Viserevv threaded into Yone end partjof said opening by beingheld 1n the mold during the molding process.'

` onine o. FULLER. 

